Members of the city’s legislative delegation tackled an array of topics including casino gambling and welfare reform during a breakfast forum Friday morning.

“Currently I see major things happening with the industrial park and collaboration in southeastern Massachusetts with education institutions,” state Sen. Marc Pacheco, D-Taunton said. “You combine that with what’s happening with expanded gaming in the commonwealth, and I think we are heading to the next level in southeastern Massachusetts.”

The annual legislative breakfast, which was held at Benjamin’s Restaurant, is organized every year by the Taunton Area Chamber of Commerce. Pacheco and state Reps. Shaunna O’Connell, R-Taunton; Patricia Haddad, D-Somerset; and Keiko Orrall, R-Lakeville, were in attendance.

Casinos

The Mashpee Wampanoag tribe’s pursuit of a tribal casino in Taunton, as well as the recent decision to open the region to commercial casino applicants, was a major topic of discussion.

“I see something happening before the end of the year,” Pacheco said, referring to the tribe’s pursuit of a federal land designation necessary for building a casino. “There are people telling me today that in the next couple of months we will have an indication of what will happen at the federal level.”

Pacheco said he hopes the revised tribal-state compact, which is still in committee, will soon be approved by the legislature.

“The chairman wants to make sure we don’t have the compact coming back with an 18-page rejection letter,” O’Connell said, referring to the previous compact, which was rejected by the federal government.

“We want to ensure that we have an agreement where we will get money from a tribal casino,” she added.

Haddad revealed that she is scheduled to meet Monday with House Chairman of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technology Joseph Wagner and “will be asking for him to move the bill immediately.”

“All of these questions have been answered,” she said, explaining that she thinks legislators have enough information to vote on the compact.

Rail

The proposed nearly $2 billion South Coast Rail project, which would expand commuter rail service to Taunton, New Bedford and Fall River, has been “quite contentious in the House,” according to Haddad.

Haddad, who supports the plan, said she’s encouraged by language in a pending transportation bill calling for the rail expansion.

“It’s not going to happen over night, but it is going to happen,” she said. “The language is there… It’s a matter of moving it out of the conference committee.”

Pacheco said he’s concerned about what could come out of the conference committee.

“If the language does not say South Coast Rail will be a reality, I will not support the bill, even as much as I support the other infrastructure improvements in the bill,” he said.

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Making sure funding is in place to avoid raising taxes to pay for the project, O’Connell said, is a priority.

Orrall wants to see more consideration given to former New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang’s idea of using existing freight tracks rather than creating a rail line through Stoughton.

“I realize there are challenges with that, but I think there should be more discussion,” Orrall said, predicting that such a plan would save money. “I think it’s a more viable alternative than the proposed route through Stoughton.”

Pacheco doesn’t favor Lang’s idea.

“It’s essentially an extension of the Middleboro route and basically excludes Taunton,” he said.

Minimum wage

Pacheco discussed his proposed legislation to increase the state’s hourly minimum wage from $8 to $11 by July 2015 and tie future adjustments to the rate of inflation. If the minimum wage from 1968 were adjusted for inflation, it would have been $10.58 last year, he said.

“We need to make sure the value of the minimum wage remains the same,” he said. “If the value is maintained, the predictability is certain; it’s the same percentage of the economy.”

O’Connell said hiking the minimum wage by 37 percent over the next two years would have an impact on businesses.

“Employers will have to make that up somewhere,” she said.

She suggested reforms to unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation and individual contractors could help employers through a wage increase.

“Taking the into consideration, I think we can come up with something everyone can work with,” she said.

Welfare reform

Eliminating fraud in the state’s welfare system is an issue to which O’Connell has devoted considerable attention.

“We have some very important public assistance programs that really help people in need,” she said. “I understand the help they can give people, but I have also seen the harm they can do.”

She is calling for requiring social security numbers for anyone applying for benefits, putting photo IDs on EBT cards and other measures.

“Every day we wait, we lose millions more in fraud,” she said.

Pacheco called the issue “politicized” and said the Senate is working on a comprehensive reform package.

“Many of us in the legislature want to make sure our good, hard-earned money is not being misused, in a sense stolen from the taxpayers,” he said.

Haddad said the issue is complex. A Supreme Court ruling, for example, prohibits the state asking for social security numbers from benefits applicants, she said. She agreed that steps do need to be taken to eliminate fraud.

“But it’s not that simple to flip a switch and make a change,” she said.